Comparison of the analytic hierarchy process and the analytic network process in human resource management

Abstract

Employee selection is one of the essential functions of human resource management. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the application of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in the process of the employee recruitment process to establish frameworks that help accepting best decisions. Information about the candidates, which was acquired by managers during various kinds of testing and personal interviews at the assessment centre, constitutes the input data of our research. Subsequently, this information was processed and analysed using two of the most popular MCDM methods - the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the analytic network process (ANP). These were chosen because of their versatility and high efficiency in solving various types of decision-making problems. Finally, we compared the outcomes obtained by both methods. We discuss their potential for practical use. The application of AHP seems to be preferable for this group of problems because of its simplicity, and because less information is required from decision-makers.